Webber takes 3 pole positions in a row in Turkey

Mark Webber took his third pole position of a row, ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton will make McLaren’s first fron row start this season, with 2nd place. Sebastian Vettel was 3rd, Jenson Button 4th, and Michael Schumacher 5th. Here is the full qualifying report:

Q1

As Q1 began, the Virgin and Lotus cars were out first. Jarno Trulli set the early benchmark with a 1.31.7, ahead of Timo Glock. The HRt cars were unable to challenge any of the new teams at this time.

Fernando Alonso was the first of the frontrunners to go out on the harder tyres, and set a 1.28.1. Vitaly Petrov set a good lap to get in between the top drivers. Vitantonio Liuzzi was struggling in the drop zone, and a spin at Turn 10 didn’t help his cause. He pitted to check the car soon after.

The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber were the last out, and were quickly on the pace, getting 3rd and 5th respectively. Soon after, they got to the top of the timesheets. Vitaly Petrov got another good lap in to take 4th momentarily. However, Vitantonio Liuzzi was unable to improve on his previous time, and was knocked out in Q1 alongside the new teams.

Drivers knocked out in Q1:

18) Vitantonio Liuzzi

19) Jarno Trulli

20) Heikki Kovalainen

21) Timo Glock

22) Bruno Senna

23) Lucas di Grassi

24) Karun Chandhok

Q2

As the first drivers went out, Lewis Hamilton surprised many by going out on the harder tyres again. After 4 minutes, he had already got the fastest lap of the session. Webber and Vettel quickly get 2nd and 3rd positions after this.

Nico Rosberg was struggling with his car, and his first attempt only put him into 13th place. His next lap was similarly poor, a 1.27.7, only placing him 11th. Again, Vitaly Petrov got another good lap in to get ahead of team-mate Kubica. While Kamui Kobayashi was in 9th, team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was lacking pace on the soft tyres, and only finished 13th.

After Rosberg finally improved to get into Q3, Fernando Alonso was the only top driver in the knockout zone. On his first attempt with 3 minutes to go, he made a mistake at Turn 12, ruining his lap. The next time, he couldn’t get the pace he needed, and only got 12th place.

Drivers knocked out in Q2:

11) Adrian Sutil

12) Fernando Alonso

13) Pedro de la Rosa

14) Sebastien Buemi

15) Rubens Barrichello

16) Jaime Alguersuari

17) Nico Hulkenberg

Q3

Michael Schumacher spins at Turn 8 and gets beached in the gravel trap

Even though the softer tyres only seem to be able to get one fast lap in, most of the first drivers out on track took on the soft tyres. Robert Kubica, as he seems to do a lot, set the first lap of Q3, with a 1.27. Lewis Hamilton soon improved on that with a 1.26.5. Sebastian Vettel seemed to be able to take provisional pole off Hamilton, but messed up the final sector, and was 2nd. Mark Webber didn’t make the same mistake, and was 0.03 seconds quicker than Lewis.

Kamui Kobayashi waited a long time to go out, but eventually did so with 4 minutes remaining. He only had one set of soft tyres left though, so he had to be careful. While he was on track, everyone else pitted to prepare for their final runs. However, his car wasn’t fast enough, and Kamui was 10th.

Mark Webber was the first of the leaders to go out on his final run, and improved on his time to take a 1.26.295. But, Lewis Hamilton got very close to Mark, only 1 tenth slower. Oddly enough, instead of a mad scramble for pole, the other drivers all messed up their final laps. Sebastian Vettel had a massive lock-up at Turn 1, ruining his tyres, while Nico Rosberg just didn’t have the pace. Michael Schumacher spun at Turn 8, and got stuck in the gravel trap.

So, Webber took pole position for the third time in a row, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, which is McLaren’s first front-row start this season. Sebastian Vettel was third, Jenson Button 4th, Michael Schumacher 5th, Nico Rosberg 6th, Robert Kubica 7th, Felipe Massa 8th, Vitaly Petrov 9th, and Kamui Kobayashi 10th.